Life
by Real.Smile
Summary: After Fred's death, Carleen is left alone and with child. However, she not really alone; she's got George Weasley. Together they dive into the adventure that is parenting.
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** As promised here is the Sequel. The title may change, just watch out for that. But without any further rambling, the first chapters.

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Harry Potter.

* * *

><p><strong>I.<strong>

The flat was silent for weeks. George stayed in his room, and Carleen sat in the corridor outside of the room that she and Fred shared. Carleen was thankful that George decided to stay in his room for most days. She couldn't bear to look at him, not yet anyway. He was identical to her late husband. Every time she looked at him, she saw Fred, and she could bear it. Little did she know, George was avoiding her. Every time he looked at her, he saw something that Fred had bragged about to him had changed. Her warm brown eyes had darken and froze. Her radiant smile had disappeared. Her rosy cheeks were crimson from crying. Her smooth, dark hair was flat and knotted. Everything that Fred had loved about her was gone, and it killed George to see her that way.

Carleen spent most of her time sitting in the corridor staring at the room that she once shared with Fred. The room had remained untouched since the night in May; it was nearing the end of July. She slept on the floor outside the room, and every night George would cover her with a blanket before he went to bed. Sometimes she would cry in the late of the night, thinking that George was asleep, but he wasn't. Other times it would be George that cried in the night under the assumption that Carleen was asleep, and she wasn't. The night that they apparrated back to the flat, Carleen heard mirrors shattering in George's room. The next morning she woke up, to find all the mirrors in the flat shattered, save the one in the married couple's bedroom. There had been broken glass on the floor since that night. They were in too much pain to clean.

It was midnight on July 29th, when Carleen knocked on the door of George's room wrapped in a blanket.

"Carleen," he said through the door. He was trying to pretend that he was asleep, but she had heard him crying. "Come in." Carleen pushed the door open and exhaled softly. She was looking down at the floor so that she wouldn't have to look at him. Under Fred's jumper, George could see that her belly had gotten rounder since the last time that he'd seen her standing up. She was now clearly pregnant, and looking a little rounder than someone at five months pregnant should. George exhaled, "You can sit down, Carly."

Her dark eyes flicked up to his light blue ones. His eyes had grown lifeless, just as hers had. "You haven't called me that in months."

"I haven't spoken to you, properly, in months," George said. A blush crawled across his face. "I'm sorry for that."

Carleen looked at him, and for the first time, she didn't see Fred. She sighed in relief and sat down on his bed. The brunette leaned against his shoulder and sighed. "It's okay. I've been avoiding you as well."

"By sleeping in the corridor?" George asked a strangled chuckle slipped though his lips. Carleen's face turned red. "It's alright I understand."

"Thank you for covering me," she mumbled. She ran her finger along his chin. "You need to shave."

He smirked and hit her hand away. "I know."

They sat in silence for a long while. She was enjoying his company. She'd been alone for so long that she hadn't remember the pleasure of being with another human being. She enjoyed the sound of his breathing soothed her. He leaned on her shoulder and exhaled slowly. Carleen ran her fingers through his red hair, not Fred's, George's. She wasn't seeing him as her lost lover. That was a step forward, right?

"I miss him," George said.

Carleen laughed and brushed her band from her eyes before letting her hand continue its path through George's hair. "I know. I miss him too."

* * *

><p><strong>II.<strong>

"Twins?" George echoed.

Carleen sighed as she fell back on his bed and closed her brown eyes. This could not be happening to her. It just couldn't. She could not be having twins. She just couldn't. However, she did show all the signs. Mrs. Weasley said that she was a little round to be just five months pregnant, when she was five months pregnant, but she pushed it aside. She couldn't be having twins. That was just impossible. Although, Fred did tease her about twins running in the family. His mother had twin brothers, he was a twin, why wouldn't she have twins?

"Twins," she said again.

"Like two kids?" George asked.

"Yes, George Fabian," she replied. "A boy and a girl."

George was silent for a moment, but then turned and pulled her off the bed so quickly that she almost fell. "That's wonderful," he shouted as he hugged her. "That's breaking tradition, but still wonderful." Carleen rolled her eyes and sat back down on the bed. George looked at her and his smile faded. "What's wrong?"

Carleen smiled and looked up at him, "Am I that easy to read?" she asked him.

"I've known you for almost ten years, Carleen," George said knowingly as he brushed her bangs from her eyes. "You're like my favorite book, if I had one." They shared a smile. "What's wrong?"

"I can barely handle taking care of me. Fred used to make sure that I didn't work myself to death or read without eating dinner. He made sure that I got my eight hours of sleep, because he knew that I would be unpleasant without them. Fred's been taking care of me since we were like twelve."

George rolled his eyes. "You took care of him too. You made sure that he did his homework. You made sure that he was taken care of when he got hurt at matches. You never gave us detention for the Snackbox. You took care of him first. He just repaid the favor."

"Anyway, how am I supposed to take care of kids if I can't take care of myself."

George knelt down to her level. "Carleen Weasley you are not alone. I'm here with you, Mum will help. Ginny loves kids. We're all here for you. We know that you are having a hard time with losing Fred. We all are, and we all mourn differently. Except you and me, we mourn pretty much the same." George smiled at her and held up two ties.

"Blue," she said after looking at the them. "Red makes you hair look redder and blue makes your eyes look bluer," she told him. "Anyway, I don't think I can do it."

"How about you get dressed and apparate over to Ginny's and tell her to take you Diagon Alley; go to the bookstore and just look at baby names," George suggested. Carleen rolled her eyes. "Maybe it'll change you mood about the twins." He held his tie out to her. "Carly."

She stood and tied the tie around his neck and sighed. "You look nice," she muttered as she adjusted the tie.

"Thanks," George said.

"You and Ron going to open the shop?" Carleen asked as she ran her fingers along the tie.

"Yeah," George said quietly. "I hope Fred's okay with it."

Carleen hit his shoulder. "He wants us to live full lives. So I'm sure that he's glad that you're opening the shop."

George's face brightened. "Really?" he asked, and Carleen nodded. "Well alright." He turned and left the room. However, he appeared moments later with a Muggle telephone in his hand. "They have a phone," he handed her a scrap of paper, "here's the number. Ginny will Floo over whenever. She wants to see you anyway. Call her." George swooped down and kissed her cheek in his usual brotherly manner. "Call her."

She heard him disapparate from the flat and she started at the phone. After a few moments, she pick it up and dialed the number on the piece of paper he'd handed her.

_Ring. Ring. Ring. Ri-_

"Hello?" Harry's voice answered. Carleen couldn't find the words to answer. "Hello?" he tried again.

"Hi, Harry," she said her voice was hoarse. "It's-"

"Carleen," Harry finished. "Here's Ginny."

Before she could thank him, Ginny had the phone. "Hey, sis."

"Hey," Carleen replied. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing. I'm watching Harry read," she replied. Harry shouted something in the background. "It's all sorts of fun."

"Do you want to help me pick out baby names?" Carleen asked. "And Fred used to loved to watch me read."

"Because Fred was dropped on his head one to many times," Ginny stated. "And did you say names, as in plural?"

"I did. I've got the Weasley curse of twins," Carleen stated.

"YES!" Ginny cried. "Harry, I won't have twins because Carly's got them." Harry shouted something that sounded like congratulations before Ginny started talking again. "I can be over in ten minutes. I just have to change out of my pajamas."

"See you then," Carleen said before she hung up.

* * *

><p><strong>III.<strong>

Never had she been in this much pain. Never. No one should ever be in this much pain. No one. Her eyes hurt from squeezing them close. Her hands hurt from grabbing on to the bars and George's hand. Her back hurt from the constant arching she had to do. Her side hurt, just because. And her head hurt because the rest of her body was hurting.

"Carly," George whimpered. Her brown eyes flicked over to his blue ones. "Let go."

"Sorry," she grunted as another wave of pain washed over her. She hadn't realized that she was squeezing his hand.

"It's fine, love," he muttered as he flexed his fingers.

"Are you the father?" a healer asked as she walked into the room. "Oh, Carleen," the woman said. Carleen recognized the woman's voice as one of her work buddies: Mackenzie. "Sorry, I didn't look at the chart. You're George, her brother-in-law."

"Yeah," he said as he continued to flex his hand.

"Ready to push, Carleen?" Mackenzie asked. Carleen nodded. "Well let's have you some twins, eh?"

What seemed like an eternity and a year later, Carleen had one of her two twins. The boy was the oldest. He weighed in at six pounds and six ounces, and was very healthy, as well as very loud. A healer can to Carleen's side and pressed gently on it, just to keep the other twin from turning, seeing as Mackenzie had said something about one of the twins possibly turning. Then another eternity and a year later, Carleen had her youngest twin; a girl. She too was healthy, although not as loud as her older brother. She weighed in at five pounds ten, ounces.

George looked down at her with a smile on his lips, and kissed the red-faced Carleen's forehead. She was tempted to swat him, but just didn't have the energy to do it. She'd do it later.

"Got names for them, Carleen?" Mackenzie asked as she stood beside the twins.

"Uh, Fredrick Gideon Weasley the Second," Carleen said. That was the obvious one. That was the one that George knew she was going to use. However, he wasn't aware of the girls name. "And Georgina Lorelei Weasley."

"Perfect, Carls," Mackenzie said as she wrote the names down.

George stood looking down at her in shock. Carleen's eyebrow arched, and she tilted her head to the side. "What?"

"You named her after me?" he asked quietly.

"Well, yeah," Carleen said. Her face was red from the stress of labor, but it still turned red as she spoke. "You've been there for me through everything. You deserve to be honored as much as Fred does."

"Thank you, Carly."

* * *

><p><strong>IV.<strong>

"They have the Weasley hair," Ginny commented as she cradled a sleep Fred in her arms. Hermione was holding Georgina. The boys were leaning over their respective significant other's shoulder looking at the infants. "And eyes."

"Fred looks just like his dad," Carleen stated from her bed. "Gina has my nose and Fred's big ears."

"Hey!" George shouted. "We don't have big ears." Carleen shrugged and dismissed the subject. "I thought we were calling her Georgie."

"No, I can't be the mother of Fred and George," Carleen scoffed. "Hogwarts would hate me if I did that."

The occupants of the room laughed. However, it was silenced by a sudden gust of air. No window was open nor a door. The vent behind Carleen's bed was closed.

"Fred approves," Carleen said softly so that only George could hear him. "The wind is him. It's always him."

George scoffed offended that she thought that he hadn't figured that out by now. "So no Fred and Georgie?"

"No Fred and Georgie."


	2. Chapter 2

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Okay let me say that I love you guys for staying with me. I think that it's amazing. So I'd like to say thanks. And I'm sorry that it took so long. I'd also like to say that each chapter is going to be a year in the twins lives. I've never had a kid, and I have a little brother, but he's my step brother and I've only known him since he was six. So I'm not a baby professional, so I'm using a site to see what baby's should be doing during the time period. So if I get it wrong, just let it go. So anyways, once they turn eleven I might continue the story; I'm pretty sure I will though. Um, so enjoy.

**DISCLAIMER: **No ownership of Harry Potter for me.

* * *

><p><strong>I.<strong>

She could not make herself get up. She heard her child crying, and she could not make herself get out of bed. What a terrible parents she was. Carleen rolled over and buried her face in her pillow and groaned loudly. Her brown eyes were closed tight, and she hoped that her child would stop crying if she ignored it long enough. However, the crying didn't cease.

"Which one?" George said from the doorway.

Carleen rolled over and turned on the light quickly. Her brown eyes met George's. She lowered her eyebrows and sighed loudly, before sitting up. "That's Georgina," she said into her hands. "She's just hungry." Carleen rubbed her eyes and sighed as she stood. "Fred will start in a moment, if you want to stay up. She always wakes him up." Fred's cries joined those of his sister's. "Speak of the devil."

Carleen and George walked down the corridor and to the room that the twin shared. On one wall was Fred's blue crib. On the other was Georgina's yellow one. She didn't seem to like the color pink too much. She tended to squirm out of it whenever she could. George went to Fred's crib and grabbed him gently before turning the light on. Carleen brushed her hair from her eyes before she took Georgina from the crib and sat down in the leather chair.

"You mind?" she asked George as she pulled at the neck of her shirt.

"Nah," George responded. Carleen shrugged, too tired to care and began to feed her daughter. "Did you want me to leave?" George asked as he held as cooing Fred.

"It's your flat, you can be in any room that you want to be in," Carleen said. "But no, I enjoy your company."

George laughed. "Everyone enjoys my company." The red-head stood and placed a sleeping Fred on in the blue crib . He then turned to Carleen just as she pulled her late husband's jumper over her chest. "Carly," he said, his tone was suddenly serious and it startled her. She watched as he sat down in front of her. He looked extremely uncomfortable, much like teenaged children did when their parents decided that it was time for the talk. His blue eye flicked up to met her brown ones, and then he sighed. "People at the shop," he rubbed the back of his neck, "think that you and I are-"

"That's ridiculous," she responded sharply.

George sighed in relief, "Glad that you feel that way."

"Well, it is ridiculous, right?" Carleen asked.

George smiled at her before he took Georgia from her arms, placed the infant in her crib, and then pulled her up. He took her hands and swayed to a non-existent beat. "Carleen," he said slowly as he looked up at the ceiling. "I think that you are one of the most intelligent, beautiful, amazing, stunning people on the planet. I think that you are perfect in every way shape and form. I think that you are an amazing mother." George smirked. "I love you, Carleen, I do." Carleen's face was red by this point. "But like a little sister. I'm about as sexually attracted to you, as I am to Ginny." Carleen snorted. "Anyway, I don't want you to feel uncomfortable in anyway, so I've been looking at flats..."

"George Fabian Weasley," Carleen snapped. She hit his chest for every syllable in his name. "This is your flat."

"Actually, Fred's name is on the contract; you're his wife. So technically, it's your flat."

Carleen sighed, and shook her head. "I want you to stay." The woman blew her hair from her eyes and sighed. "So will you?"

George spun her around and kissed her cheek. "I'd love to stay with you."

* * *

><p><strong>II.<strong>

"Out of bed, Carleen Weasley," George shouted at her. "You can't stay in bed all day. You have children that need you to talk to them. They need you to teach them to talk and how to walk..."

George continued on and Carleen buried her face in her pillow, and shook her head. She really just wanted to stay in bed for forever. She'd been up for most of the night dealing with an unusually fussy Fred and an angry Georgina. Now she just wanted to sleep.

"Carly," George said, his voice was much closer, and thankfully, much quieter. "Up."

"Hmmm?"

"You have to get up," George said again, before he ripped the covers off her body.

"Wha?" she muttered as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What?"

"Your children," he said again.

Carleen rolled her eyes and collapsed on the bed. "Take them away," Carleen grunted. "Take them away."

"Now you know that you don't mean that Carleen," George said. "Get up and go and feed your children."

Carleen sighed and rolled off the bed and on to the floor with a sift _thud_ she then stood and ran her fingers through her brown hair. "Kitchen," she asked sleepily. George nodded. Carleen walked out of the room slowly as if she were trying to get George to call her back and do it himself, but it didn't happen. So she walked out of the room and into the kitchen. Fred babbled excitedly at the sight of his mother, while Georgia kicked her legs about. Carleen smiled at the twins with their red hair and blue eyes. "Hello, Georgina, that was mommy's leg you just kicked." Georgia babbled. "I accept your apology. Freddie," she said as she picked the boy up and kissed him. She had to admit that she liked Fed just a little better than Gina, only a little.

"Favoritism," George whispered into her ear.

Carleen snorted and put her son back into his chair. "So not. I'll feed Gina first, just for you." Carleen grabbed a bottle off the counter and then picked up her daughter. They walked to the sofa and Carleen plopped down and placed the bottle in Georgina's mouth. George grabbed Fred and did the same. "Did I say you could feed him?" George smiled at her. "Well you can." She paused. "Thanks though."

"Anything for my roommate."

* * *

><p><strong>III.<strong>

"Is this what you really want to do this on your birthday?" Carleen asked. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were tear stained. "I'm sure we wouldn't mind," she continued. George nodded and then took her hand. "I can't."

"It's okay," he said before they were pulled through a dark, tight tunnel. "I can do it."

They were standing in a graveyard. A feeling of depression washed over her as she looked at the all of the grave markers. She'd never thought about how often people died until she saw a graveyard. She closed her eyes and sighed heavily. She didn't really want to be here at all. She feel herself getting nauseous. Her vision was getting fuzzy on the edges like she had some sort of disease. All of the brightly colored flowers were hurting her eyes.

"Are you sure you want to be here?" George asked as he started off down the paved path slowly.

Carleen followed slowly. She kept her eyes down on the boring grey pavement. She counted the amount of steps that she had to take to get to her destination. As if she didn't already know. From the entrance of the graveyard, which is where George had apparated too, it was exactly eighty-two steps. Carleen stopped on eighty-one and looked up at George. His blue eyes were wet and his face was red. Carleen sighed and sat down beside him. She kept her eyes on the ground before her. George took a seat next to her and exhaled roughly.

With their shoulders touching, Carleen turned her brown eyes up to the grave marker.

_Fred Weasley, _

_April 1st, 1978 - 2 May, 1998_

_Loving son, brother, and husband._

_Prankster Extraordinaire _

Carleen exhaled slowly. It always killed her to see this grave marker. It made everything so real. She lowered her eyebrows and then looked at George, who was looking at her. They two of them then turned their eyes to the grave marker silently and said. "Happy Birthday, Fred."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Sorry, guys. I just lost muse for this, and then it suddenly came back. So hopefully it'll stay this time and I can finish this out.

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Harry Potter

* * *

><p><strong>I.<strong>

Carleen apparrated into the shop looking completely frazzled. Her eyes were wide and in her arm was a thirteen month old, Georgina. She brushed her messy hair from her brown eyes and huffed loudly. She stopped on of the workers and asked where George was, and once she had her answer she started off to the location. The back room. Carleen flicked her wand and the door flew open. George looked up from what he was working on and over at his sister-in-law.

"Are you okay?" he asked as an amused smiled played on his lips.

"She said it," Carleen said as she placed an squirming Georgina on the floor. The toddler walked over to her uncle slowly. She'd been walking for about two months and she was becoming a real pain in the ass.

"Said what?" George asked as he picked her up.

"Dada," Georgia babbled.

George's face paled. "Oh."

"This is horrible."

"Where's Fred?" George asked.

Carleen shot him a look. "Dead, you idiot."

"Your son."

Carleen looked as if she'd been slapped. "Shit," she cussed uncharacteristically. She disapparated out of the room, and then apparrated back a moment later, with a very angry looking Fred on her hip. "I'm so sorry. Mummy, didn't mean to leave you. No, she didn't." Carleen sat down and Fred cuddled against her, in true Mama's Boy fashion. "What are we going to do?" she asked as she ran her fingers through her son's red hair. "She thinks you her dad."

"I know," George placed Georgina on the ground and watched her walk across the room. "Georgia," he said. "Put that down." The girl obeyed and walked around more. "Should I move out?"

"No, no, she'd die if you did that." Carleen sighed and gently pulled her daughter's red ponytail and smiled. "I guess, we just wait until she's old enough to understand, and hope that this one doesn't start in on it too."

"Okay," George agreed.

* * *

><p><strong>II.<strong>

"Why isn't he walking like her?" George asked.

Carleen looked up from her book and watched her son walking around the table slowly, while his sister walked circles around him. She'd noticed it too, however she just assumed that it was normal. She knew that they would develop differently. Georgina walked better than Fred, but Fred talked more fluently than Georgina, and he didn't use the 'd' word. However, at fifteen months she assumed that he should be walking properly.

"Well, he's doing it without assistance," Carleen said. "Georgina, don't put that in your mouth," she said, looking at her daughter from the corner of her eye. "So he's still got time."

"Are you sure?" he asked again.

"I'm sure that he's still got time," Carleen nodded confidently.

"And what are we going to do about her and the 'd' word?"

Carleen sighed. The word had become more prominent in her vocabulary. George tried his best not to answer to it, but sometimes he had to. Fred still hadn't said it. Which he was glad about. He could crush the hopes of both his niece and nephew. Fred walked over to George and pulled on the leg of his trousers.

"Dada."

Carleen dropped her book and tried her best to bite back a scream. "Are you kidding me?" she shouted as she looked up at the ceiling. "Really? I couldn't have one kid that didn't think that George was its dad?" Carleen closed her brown eyes and leaned on George's shoulder." Marry me?" George chuckled. "You look just like him, they would never know."

"I'm not going to do that. I think that Fred would kill me if I did. Plus you're like Ginny to me, I would never."

Carleen groaned. "I hate you."

"I love you, too."

* * *

><p><strong>III.<strong>

After a long fight with Georgina, Carleen finally managed to get her into the bathtub. She never understood why her daughter never liked to take baths. It was just unheard of. She knew for a fact that she loved to take baths when she was a kid. That used to be her favorite part of the day. Fred wasn't as bad, but he didn't like baths either.

"You look like hell," George commented as she exited the bathroom with Georgina on her hip. It looked more like Gina had given Carleen a bath, versus the other way around. Carleen was soaked to the bone. Every visible article of clothing she was wearing was covered in water. Her hair, that retained water like no one's business, was dripped on to the carpet. George pulled out his wand and pointed it at her. The water immediately disappeared from her body. "There you go."

"Thank you," the brunette seethed. "You can bathe her from henceforth."

George chuckled and took the toddler from his sister. "I don't think that I'll be doing that. I'll read to them though."

Carleen yawned. "You know that's my thing. If you read to them they might think that you're their mom too," Carleen joked. George shot her a look. "But I'm too tired to do it. So you can do it."

Carleen walked off to her bedroom and collapsed on the bed. She was glad that George had done the spell to dry her clothes, because she wouldn't be able to think of it now. She was beyond tired. As she brown eyes fluttered close, she heard a sound in her room. The brunette sat up and was greeted by three pairs of blue eyes, George, Gina, and Fred.

"I'm gonna read to everyone," George commented as the children climbed on to the bed. "We're going to read _Goodnight Moon._" Fred snuggled against his mother and Gina did as well. Carleen just rolled over on to her stomach and buried her face into her pillow. "You can't see the pictures that way, Carls." When Carleen didn't respond George poked her with the cover of the book. "Carleen," he sang. Gina pulled at her mother's pigtail and Fred push her side. Faintly, George could hear Carleen's soft breathing. She'd fallen asleep that quickly. The two year old twins were a handful, but had they worn her out that much? "What did you guys do today?" George asked the twins.

"Mama took us to," Fred paused.

"Diagon Alley," Gina finished for him.

"Oh," George said. The realization hit him. She'd had to play twin rangier all day in a crowded alley.

"Fred ran away," Gina continued.

"Did not."

"Did so."

"Not."

"SO!"

"NOT!"

"Shh," George quieted. "Come on, we'll read our story somewhere else."

"Why, Dada?" Gina asked. George's face paled as it always did when one of the twins called him that.

"Mama's asleep," Fred answered.

"Well wake her up," Gina said as she made a motion to push Carleen.

George stopped her and pulled her away from her mother. "No," he scolded as he pulled the blanket over his sister. "Come on, Fred."

The boy kissed his mother's cheek. "Night, Mama."


End file.
